Treatment of water and other liquids by ultra-violet rays.



V. HENRI, A. HELBRONNER & M. VON RECKLINGHAUSEN.

TREATMENT OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS BY ULTRA-VIOLET RAYS.

APPLICATION FILED mag. 31, mo. RENEWED JAN. 14, I915.

1 17,, Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

WITNESSES vrcroa HENRI, ANDRE nELEaoNNEa, AND max v RECKLINGHAUSEN, or ue, 'EnaNcE, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE R. U. v. COMPANY,INC A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TREATMENT OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS BY ULTRA-VIOLET RAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. as, 1915.

Original application filed October 31, 1910, Serial No. 589,995. Dividedand this application filed December 31, 1910, Serial No. 600, 3- RenewedJanuary 14, 1915. Serial No. 2,278.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that we, VICTOR HENRI and ANDREHELBRONNER, citizens of the Republic of France, and MAX voN REoKLING- 5HAUSEN, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Paris, France,have mvented a new and useful Improvement Relating to the/Treatment ofWater and other Liquids by Ultra-Violet Rays, of wh ch the following isa specification, th1s application being a division of application SerialNo.

. 589,995, filed October 31, 1910.

This invention relates to the treatment and sterilization of liquids bymeans of ultra-violet rays, and particularly to the sterilization ofsuch liqulds as are only slightly or not at all opaque to the rays, andhas for its object the constructlon of apparatus suitable for thepurpose. Q

I Serial No.

In a co-pending application, 589,995, filed 31st October 1910, wedescrlbe apparatus for treating liqulds by means of ultra-violet raysand the preferred Source of rays therein indicated is a mercury vapor25,-lamp provided with a quartz container.

It is desirable that the sterillzlng appratus should operate as farasposslble automatically and for this reason the plant 1s providedwithan automatic cut-ofi', adapted to stop the flow of water throughtheapparatusin case 9f breakage or failure of a lamp. Such adevice forinstance may consist of an electro-magnet connected in series with thelamp andoperatively connected to 35 a water valve so that when thecurrent fails on account of a defect in a lamp, the flow of water to thesterilizer is cut ofi. It has furthermore been found that-the form oflamp which is preferably employed-for sterilizing purposes takes a muchlarger current when started than when it is in normal operation, and thequantity of ultra-violet rays emitted during the starting period is lessthan during the normal period. An electro magnetb cally operated devicemay thereforebe connected in the water supply System, which retards theflow of water until the lamp is operating normally. this way the passageof 'waterthrough the apparatus at a rate which is too ra id inproportion to the amount of ultra-violet rays available to efiectthorough sterilization is prevented.

may beclearly understood we will now proceed to describe the same withreference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 shows by wayof example and diagrammatically a cut-out device adapted to cut off thesupply of water to the sterilizing element in case of failure of a lampand Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically an electri cally operated device forretarding the passage of water through the apparatus when the lamp isbeing started up. a

Referring to the diagram shown in Fig. 1, the device comprises anelectro-magnet '1', to the armature of which is connected a rod 2supporting a conical valve 3. When closed the valve rests in the seat 4and passage of the water is prevented. When the lamp 5, which isconnected in the same circuit 6 as the electro-magnet, is in operationthe armature is raised, thus opening the valve and allowing the water toflow through the pipe 7 into the sterilizing element. In the eventtherefore of failure of a lamp from any cause the flow of water throughthe' sterilizing element is automatically cut off.

The general arrangement of the device used for retarding the flow ofwater during the starting period before the lamp has attained its normalstate of operation is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2. A device of thischaracter is necessary because, as hereinbefore mentioned, we have foundthat a 85 vapor electric lamp does not attain its full capacity foremitting ultra-violet rays until some time after it has been started.Consequently, during this time if the water or other liquid to besterilized be permitted to ast the lam at its normal rate it will not e.suflicient y sterilized during this period oftime. On the other hand,during this startin period the quantity of electricity absor ed by thelamp is much greater than in normal working. For instance, in the caseof 'mercur vapor lamps, a lamp which normally ta es a current of aboutthree amperes will require a. current of about seven amperes whenstarting. We therefore establish a correspondence between the quantityof current taken by the lamp and the amount of water flowing through theapparatus and proportion this quantity to the rate of action of thelamp. For this 105 In order that, the nature of our invent on purpose weprovidein series with the mer- 'When the strength of the electriccurrent diminishes the valve is permitted to open again under theinfluence of the spring 12 rent strength in until when the lamp istaking its normal current and emitting its full amount of ultra-violetrays the maximum flow of water past the lamp is permitted. In place ofconnecting the electromagnetic device in series with the lamp it may befounddesir- I able to connect it in a shunt across the terminals of thelamp, in which case a suitable variation will be made in the manner inwhich it operates the water valve.

It will be-understood that many different ways of carrying out theinvention in practice may be devised, for example, advantage may betaken. of the thermal effects of the electric current for the purpose ofoperating the water valve in accordance with the ourplace of theelectro-magnetic efi'ects' We claim as our invention i 1. Apparatus forsterilizing liquids comprising in oognbinationa chamber through whichthe liquid is permitted to flow, a mercury vapor lamp emitting rays ofshort wave length, means for exposing the liquid to such rays during itspassage through the chamber and automatic means for reducing the flow ofliquid when the current passing throu h the lamp is larger than thenormal.

pparatus for sterilizing liquidscompris ng in combination "a chamberthrough which the liquid is permitted to flow, a mercury vapor lampemitting rays of short wave length, means for exposing the liquid tosuch rays during its passage through the chamber and means operated bythe current passing through the lamp for reducing the flow of liquidwhen said current is larger than the normal.

3. Apparatus for sterilizing liquids by means of ultra-violet rays, thecombination of a sterilizing chamber, an-inlet pipe leading to suchsterilizing chamber, a valve in said pipe, a lamp capable of emittingultraviolet rays, and means whereby said valve is operated to reducethe'fiow of liquid to the sterilizing chamber when the current pass ingthrough the lamp is larger than the normal.

4. In apparatus for treating liquids by means of ultra-violet rays, thecombination of a valve adapted to admit liquid to the apparatus, a lampcapable of emitting ultraviolet rays and means for retarding the'passage of liquid through said valve when the current taken by the lampexceeds its normal value.

5. In apparatus for treating liquid by means of ultra-violet'rays, thecombination of a valve, an el ectro-magnet adapted to operate said valveand a lamp capable of emitting ultra-violet rays connected in serieswith said electro-magnet, said valve being constructed to retard thepassage of liquid when the electro-magnet is energized above a certainpredetermined degree.

- In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names this 16 dayof December 1910.

VICTOR HENRI. ANDRE HELBRONNER. MAX VON REGKLINGHAUSEN. Witnesses: I

DEAN B. MASON, Jao'x H. BAKER.

